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Central Africa

France moots DRC sanctions with elections delayed

France says it's seeking EU sanctions to press Congolese President Joseph Kabila to make way for delayed elections. The US imposed sanctions last month against two individuals, with the EU yet to act.

Editor's note: This story originally featured quotes attributed to DRC President Joseph Kabila, taken from a report by the Reuters news agency. Reuters has since retracted the story, saying the quotes were wrongly attributed to Kabila, when Tanzania's President John Magufuli had actually said them in a joint press conference. We apologize for the error, and have removed the pertinent passages.

The French foreign ministry said Tuesday the EU should use "all means at its disposal," including sanctions, to bring about a political transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"On October 19th, we will give him a yellow card," said opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, intimating that more protests would follow if Kabila failed to step aside when his mandate expires on December 19.

Last Saturday, Catholic church leaders also criticized the electoral delay.

DR Congo, a mineral-rick central African state, has never experienced a peaceful transition of power.

Between 1996 and 2003, millions of people died in regional wars in Congo in regional wars that drew in armies from half a dozen adjacent countries.